It is the first white blouse. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced Sunday, March 22, that a hospital doctor had died of the coronavirus Covid-19 in France.
"I was informed last night of the death of a hospital doctor, it is to my knowledge (...) the first situation that struck a hospital doctor", said Olivier Véran to the Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro- LCI.
He refused to give "more precise information", in the name of the family's will and medical confidentiality.
According to France 3 Hauts-de-France, the victim is an emergency doctor from Compiègne, in Oise, one of the first departments to have been badly affected in France, and died after his transfer to Lille. Information confirmed to AFP from a source close to the file. His family has already paid tribute to him on Facebook.
Olivier Véran, who "joined the pain of the family", noted the "very heavy price paid by the large family of doctors today".
The shortage of masks still relevant
He also "underlined the extraordinary courage shown by all the doctors, carers, firefighters, all those who save lives every day".
>>> Read also: Coronavirus: the Sanofi laboratory "is actively preparing" for the production of chloroquine
Asked about the impact of the shortage of masks for health workers, the minister said that "what we do know is that most of the caregivers who contract the disease will not contract it as part of their job. hospitable, but outside. "
While acknowledging that caregivers "are by definition those who are most in contact with the sick", he noted that "there have been several cases of contamination in a unit of doctors or nurses who, although equipped in masks could have been contaminated ".
"Protective equipment is absolutely essential for caregivers, but with or without protective equipment you can be sick in your professional practice, you can be sick when you are a caregiver."
With AFP
The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribeDownload the app
google-play-badge_FR